Date code or serial number?
Historical Louis Vuitton date codes describe manufacturing information. They are not unique identifiers for an individual bag. Multiple pieces can share a code, and a counterfeit can reproduce one.
Factory letters should be evaluated alongside the country stamp and construction. Factory assignments and transitions make a simple letters-to-country chart an incomplete authentication method.
Read by era
| Era | Typical format | How to read it |
|---|---|---|
| Before the early 1980s | No standardized date code | An older piece may legitimately have no code. |
| Early 1980s | Three or four numbers | First two digits indicate year; remaining digits indicate month. |
| Mid/late 1980s | Digits and factory letters; order varies | Usually year followed by month. Transitional formats require manual review. |
| 1990–2006 | Two letters + four digits | Digits 1 and 3 give month; digits 2 and 4 give year. |
| 2007–early 2021 | Two letters + four digits | Digits 1 and 3 give production week; digits 2 and 4 give year. |
| Around March 2021 onward | Many items use embedded chips | A missing visible date code is not, by itself, evidence of a counterfeit. |
Worked examples
| Code | Digits separated | Interpretation |
|---|---|---|
| SP0065 | 0 + 6 = 06; 0 + 5 = 05 | June 2005, using the 1990–2006 convention. |
| SR3179 | 3 + 7 = 37; 1 + 9 = 19 | Production week 37 of 2019. |
| 844 | 84 followed by 4 | April 1984, using an early numeric convention. |
Try the date-code reader
Where to look
Common locations include an interior leather tab, the edge or underside of an interior pocket, a D-ring attachment, or a lining seam. Wallets may have a code tucked inside a slip pocket or along an inner seam. Locations vary by model and year.
Codes stamped directly onto soft lining can fade. Avoid forcing pockets open or using chemicals to expose a faint mark. Record the code exactly before interpreting it.
Chips and the limits of public tools
Embedded-chip production changed the visible-code landscape around 2021. Public phone readings should not be treated as an official Louis Vuitton authentication result. A readable signal, a missing signal, or a seller’s screenshot does not resolve authenticity.
This reader checks common date-format conventions only. It does not verify factory assignments, ownership, repairs, or the bag itself. For a transition-year piece, compare its construction and provenance with documented examples.
Further reading: FASHIONPHILE date-code guide ↗
Further reading: Independent overview of code-era transitions ↗